Snapshots
by DarkHeartInTheSky
Summary: #22 Exhaustion -He tells everybody that Jak can't sleep without him, but maybe that's just his excuse to curl up on Jak's chest and listen to the lullaby of his heartbeat.


**AN: Based on the Fifty Themes challenge. Told in chronological order...mostly chronological order...at least 85% chronological order all from Daxter's POV. And yes, I may have abused the semi colon some...**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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**#01: Introduction**

Daxter hadn't seen him around until the last few days, but when he finally approached the odd child he did so with a smile, a handshake, and a rock carefully hidden behind his back.

**#02: Rivalry**

Jak was better at everything: running, jumping, swimming, even earning the respect and love of the adults in Sandover; Daxter comforted himself in the fact that at least he could talk better than Jak, but it was both a hollow victory and a low blow.

**#03 Inspiration**

It was because Jak was better at everything that Daxter would stay up late at night and go to the beach himself and run until morning.

**#04 Running Away**

He promised Jak he would save him, but he never even looked back as he ran.

**#05 Knowing How**

Daxter doesn't know how he'll break into the palace and save Jak, but he will; if their positions were reversed, Jak would have saved him a long time ago.

**#06 Shame**

He did stop looking for a while, but there was no reason Jak needed to know that.

**#07 Freedom**

Jak stopped moving after they got out of the prison and Daxter wondered if he ever thought he'd be free.

**#08 Insomnia**

Daxter refused to sleep that first night, afraid that if he did he would wake and Jak would be gone.

**#09 Failure**

Jak took his shirt off in front of him once and he hadn't been able to keep the look of horror in his eyes, and at night when Jak is in the fits of another nightmare, Daxter is reminded of the scars.

**#10 Breaking Away**

The oracle warned them it could happen, but Daxter can't look as Jak screams, dark horns receding back into his skull, blood staining his lips, but eyes still lifeless and black.

**#11 Never Again**

He goes into battle with Jak despite how terrified he is because he _can't_ abandon Jak again.

**#12 Seeing Red**

He asked what it was like when he changed once and after a moment's silence Jak said without looking at him, "It's red."

**#13 Echoes **

Jak is always turning his head when they are alone and when Daxter asks him what's wrong he shakes his head and quietly replies, "Nothing."

**#14 Disgust**

Every time someone mutters "eco freak" under their breath, his stomach lurches and he avoids looking Jak in the eye.

**#15 Worthless**

Torn can call him a rat and Krew can threaten to eat him, but he'd go to hell and back again just to make Jak smile again and hear him say "Thanks Dax,"; to prove he means something to somebody.

**#13 Abused**

Daxter realizes one day that even though Jak's eyes are not wounded, they are the most scarred.

**#16 Cold**

Daxter realizes how shallow his fears are when Jak willingly goes back into that room with that chair to rescue their friends without a second thought.

**#17 Blood**

After a long spell, Jak will be on his knees, vomiting blood and bones, shaking and crying and Daxter will have his hand on Jak's shoulder, unusually silent.

**# 18 Shades of Gray**

During those two years, Daxter thought that Jak was either alive or dead; he never gave consideration that he would be broken.

**#19 Summer Haze**

After two years in this hell, he longs for the summer nights that he and Jak spent camping outside, pressed into each other, staring at the stars.

**#20 Forgotten**

With each passing night in Haven, days of Sandover beach drift away, like the falling tide, until the faces of the villagers become colorless blurs and their voices shift into empty static.

**#21 Change**

"We're never going back, are we, big guy?"

**#22 Exhaustion **

He tells everybody that Jak can't sleep without him, but maybe that's just his excuse to curl up on Jak's chest and listen to the lullaby of his heartbeat.

**#23 Bitter Silence**

Daxter hates that all he can do for Jak after a nightmare is curl up next to him and talk, talk endlessly about nothing because he knows he'll never get a response.

**#24 Answers**

He asked Jak only once about what happened inside the prison and even though he knew he was getting a censored version, when Jak stopped talking Daxter wished he hadn't asked.

**#25 Seeking Solace**

The question came as a surprise and it was very un-Jak and Daxter couldn't help the way his heart clenched and broke, muttering, "I don't think you're a monster."

**#26 Heaven**

According to Torn, some idiot forgot the first "e" in the original paperwork and everyone else was just too lazy to go back and change it.

**#27 Stress**

Sometimes Daxter worried that Jak had too much fun blowing the heads off the cardboard cut outs in the gun range; or maybe that was just because he was dizzy from holding on for dear life.

**#28 Only Human**

Daxter likes being an ottsel more than he did a person; not that he'll ever tell Jak that, pf course.

**#29 Health and Healing**

When Jak slept through the night without a nightmare since his prison break, Daxter knew Jak could be okay; he would be okay, one day at a time.

**#30 Pain**

Daxter tugged on the end of the bandages, tying it in a knot and trying to ignore the blood, muttering, "Why didn't you say anything earlier, you big lug?"

**#31 Party**

It was never a party until Daxter go drunk enough to shout proclamations of love, sing off-key and accurately insult everyone within the vicinity.

#**32 Breakfast**

Daxter knew Jak would go days without eating if he could away with it; he had before, which was why Daxter made sure he at least had breakfast.

**#33 Possession**

Daxter refused to believe that the monster born in Praxis' prison was Jak; the way he saw it, it was a demon and Daxter would be damned if he wasn't the best exorcist for it.

**#34 Grasping**

Holding onto Jak's shoulder when they were being chased was hard; but he held because he knew there was no safer place in the world.

**#35 Neglect**

He didn't even _like_ Samos, but Daxter still, after all these years, wished he would look at him the same way he looked at Jak and say "Good job, my boy!"

**#36 What if**

As selfish as they are, Daxter's worst nightmares are ones of a world where baby Jak was never sent to Sandover.

**#37 Defeated**

Jak had given up when Veger dumped him in the desert; but what kind of friend would Daxter have been if he left him there?

**#38 Adoration**

Daxter could never get over the way Jak looked at Damas and Daxter had come to like Damas for it; finally, someone else understood.

**#39 Shining**

After they met the Oracle at Seem's temple, Daxter noticed that Jak's eyes were glowing again and he had back that stupid grin that had been missing for the last three years.

**#40 Birth**

"I didn't know my father," Jak said; Daxter hadn't known his either and he pondered on the thought that they had raised each other.

**#41 ****Light**

Even though he blamed them for a lot wrong with his life, when the Precursors said that Jak would be okay, Daxter thanked them.

**#42 Worship**

Daxter didn't understand how Seem could pray to the Precursors when they demanded she dress like that in the middle of the desert.

**#43 Young**

He was tired of people calling him a kid when he helped save the world twice; didn't that count for anything?

**#44 Submission**

He was a man trapped inside an ottsel's body, with a soft spot for the late night belly rubs Jak was so good at giving.

**#45 Faith**

And the Precursors had once said that Jak would either end up mad or dead and look how wrong they were; why should he believe them now?

**#46 Death**

Daxter had seen Jak at his worst, but still didn't know what to say as he watched his best friend cradling the body of his father.

**#47 Dealing**

They were men; they didn't talk about something as mushy as feelings, no matter how much they knew they needed to.

**#48 Goodbyes**

And-and he actually got on the ship and left him; after everything they had been through, the bastard actually had the balls to just leave him with these people!

**#49 Best of Friends**

Of course he had known that Jak really wouldn't leave him the whole time, but he still bit back his tears; "I couldn't leave you, Dax; with all our adventures ahead, you wouldn't last a second without me."

**#50 A Place To Belong**

Sandover is a lost dream, an oasis that Spargus can never be; but, Daxter thinks with a sad smile, glancing up at Jak, it's pretty damn close.


End file.
